South Sydney Rabbitohs do enough to beat Manly Sea Eagles in NRL clash

It was billed as a battle of the brothers. A clash of the halves. In the end, it was a match which did not reach any great heights, with South Sydney easing past Manly to move inside the top four.

Glenn Stewart returned from injury to play Manly – and brother Brett – for the first time. Brett described it as "unusual" but was happy Glenn came through the game unscathed. George and Thomas took on big brother Luke Burgess while Kieran Foran looked to put his ongoing contract saga behind him.

The brothers barley crossed paths while Foran had an indifferent night in his team's four-try-to-two loss with South Sydney opposite Luke Keary the star.

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Adam Reynolds' run of bad luck continued with the Rabbitohs halfback lasting just 24 minutes before he was taken from the field with concussion after his head collided with Feleti Mateo's hip as he tried to tackle the back-rower.

Nice work: Aaron Gray, ball in hand, of the Rabbitohs celebrates with teammates after scoring.Credit:Mark Kolbe

It is Reynolds' second head knock of a season which has already seen him sidelined for extended periods with knee and thumb injuries.

"It's part of a rugby league career," Souths coach Michael Maguire said. "He will be right and aim up next week. He felt he was OK to possibly come on. We abide by what we need to with concussion rules and it wasn't a problem."

An early second-half blitz turned the match in the Rabbitohs' favour following a lacklustre first period, with two tries in the opening 10 minute.

The back-to-back scores came from Aaron Gray and Bryson Goodwin without Manly touching the ball as they marched up the field through penalties. Goodwin scored first when he scooped up a bouncing pass from Gray as he stumbled toward the corner post.

Hard yards: Ben Lowe of the Rabbitohs is swamped by Manly defenders.Credit:Getty Images

Referee Matt Cecchin ruled no try because of a knock on but, with the pass seemingly travelling forward from Gray, and with the video referee unable to adjudicate on a forward pass, the decision was reversed. The ruling bewildered Manly coach Geoff Toovey.

"It's two weeks in a row the referee has gone on no-try, [then] they have overruled it as a try," Toovey said. "I can't comment on it.

"You can't rule on forward passes. When it hits the ground ... it's not a forward . It didn't hurt us last week but it hurt us a lot more this week in such a close game."

A clever early tackle kick from John Sutton gave Gray some space to race 20 metres and score to give the Rabbitohs a 14-4 lead. Manly wasted no time in getting themselves back into the game when Steve Matai crossed from a short side raid in the 56th minute.

The Rabbitohs would repel three consecutive sets on their tryline midway through the second half to keep their lead intact. And they would reap the rewards with their next possession. A Keary bomb found Alex Johnston, who threw a no-look pass for Keary to touch down for a 20-8 lead.

South Sydney held a two-point lead at the break with an Issac Luke penalty goal separating the two sides. Manly opened the scoring after four consecutive sets eventually allowed them to break through the Rabbitohs defensive line.

It was a Foran cross field kick which was fumbled by Sutton before an excellent cut out pass by Cherry-Evans found Peta Hiku on the wing to give the Sea Eagles a four point lead after 26 minutes.

"We let them back in with some pretty silly mistakes," Toovey said. "We dominated large portions of the first half. Souths came out in the second half more enthusiastic. "We have to start winning some games."